Doctor Who: Human Nature – How does the novel compare to its TV adaptation?

Before the TV adaptation, Human Nature was originally a novel for the Seventh Doctor. How does it compare with its TV adaptation?

Image Courtesy BBC Studios, BritBox

Before it was a much-loved Tenth Doctor story, Human Nature was originally a Seventh Doctor novel. How was the original take on this unusual Doctor Who story?

At the end of last week, many Doctor Who fans took part in a huge watchalong of the two-part story Human Nature/The Family of Blood. It’s easy to see why it was chosen: giving us a very different take on the Doctor and featuring a brilliant performance by David Tennant, it’s definitely one of the best stories from Series 3, and perhaps the whole of the New Series.

However, this wasn’t the first time that the idea of the Doctor disguising himself as a human was explored. As I’m sure many of you know, Human Nature was adapted from a novel of the same title. How different is it from what we saw on screen?

Interestingly, not as different as you might expect. The basic story of Human Nature remains the same: the Doctor is on Earth, disguised as a human; the companion is keeping a close eye on him; a ruthless alien family is hunting the Doctor, eager to gain his Time Lord biology. Even the period setting is broadly the same: a school in 1914, where the Doctor meets and falls in love with Joan Redfern.

So on the surface, the two versions follow the same story, but with different Doctors. But is there more to it than that?

The best way to describe the two versions of Human Nature is that they’re exactly the same story, but told in distinctly different eras. Many of the little changes and differences you’ll see are a natural result of when they were written.

The Seventh Doctor was often a more alien character than David Tennant’s Doctor. How does this affect the core story?

Image Courtesy BBC Studios, BritBox

A more alien Doctor

For example, as noted, this story features the Seventh Doctor as opposed to the Tenth. While the novel’s version of John Smith isn’t too different from the one we saw on television, at least in terms of character, what’s interesting is the contrast to the story’s particular Doctor.

On television, Human Nature was told with a Doctor that was arguably closer to human than most, at least in terms of emotion. After all, this was an incarnation that was very heavily implied to have fallen in love with one of his companions.

By contrast, the Seventh Doctor is extremely different. He’s often been portrayed as an incarnation that plays games on a grand scale, that is constantly working to various schemes. He cares about his companions, but at the same time, he’s never been against using them in his plans. You certainly couldn’t imagine a Doctor as distinctly alien as him falling in love.

As a result, the contrast between John and this Doctor is a lot bigger, which in some ways, makes the novel of Human Nature even more appealing. While it was still fascinating to see the Tenth Doctor on television live an ordinary, human life, it’s even stranger to imagine Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor depicted as having human emotions and falling in love.

The difference between the two Doctors is highlighted by the reasons they become human in the first place. For example, the Tenth Doctor did it as a desperate measure, after finding himself hunted by the Family of Blood.

But the Seventh Doctor did it to better understand humanity, especially during a time when his companion Benny was grieving. The fact that she would need her friend exactly as he is more than ever doesn’t even occur to him. When we see the Seventh Doctor become human, it’s when we also see him at his most alien.

A more complex story

What also stands out about the novel is that the story is just a little more complex than the one seen on TV. There are many more plot threads and a greater number of characters overall. This makes a lot of sense – while the story was given two episodes on television, you can still have plenty more room to explore your characters in even a relatively short novel (in this case, a little under 300 pages).

The novel is also more noticeably violent and just a little more mature than what we saw on television. Again, this isn’t surprising, especially when you consider exactly when this was written – during the Nineties, the New Adventures novels were written with a distinctly older audience in mind.

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Still, it’s shocking to read a Doctor Who story where someone’s head explodes, or where even young students are brutally killed off. However, it’s clear that writer Paul Cornell isn’t just including violence in his story just for the sake of it, and that he’s simply reminding the audience of how young many boys who fought and died in the First World War would have been. This is still captured in the TV adaptation, and it was captured very well. But, as previously mentioned, it’s important to consider the different audiences that both versions were written for.

And that’s what makes each version of Human Nature worth checking out. It’s fascinating to have broadly the same Doctor Who story told in two entirely different eras and mediums. The number of differences – both major and minor – are fascinating to see. However, more than that: there’s no question that the story of the Doctor learning what it’s like to be human is a fascinating one, and both the novel and the TV adaptation do it brilliantly.

If you’ve read the novel of Human Nature, do you prefer it to the TV adaptation? Or do you think the TV version is stronger? Let us know in the comments below.